Paint shields, particularly for shielding carpets

ABSTRACT

A paint shield having a first portion with a handle thereon, and a second portion extending from the first portion at an angle of 90* or more for engaging the carpet. The free lengthwise edge of the second portion has a plurality of cut-out, serrations, or the like formed therein to enhance the shielding characteristics of the paint shield.

United States Patent Knox 1 Sept. 26, 1972 [54] PAINT SHIELDS, PARTICULARLY FOR 2,212,073 8/ 1940 Orth ..118/504 SHIELDING CARPETS 2,538,743 1/ 1951 Alston ..118/504 Inventor: Joseph W. Knox Magnolia Ave, Crawford 0780 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [221 1971 460,339 10/1949 Canada ..118/504 [21] App1.No.: 119,207

Primary Examiner-Morris Kaplan- 52 us. (:1 ..118/504 MOMYTFIYM Frishauf [51] Int. Cl. ..B05b 15/04 [58] Field of Search ..118/504, 505 1571 ABSTRACT I A paint shield having a first portion with a handle [56] References cued thereon, and a second portion extending from the first UNITED STATES PATENTS portion at an angle of 90 or more for engaging the carpet. The free lengthwlse edge of the second portion Rowe, Jr has a plurality of cut out serrations or the 2,484,607 10/1949 Cherem .1 18/504 formed therein to enhance the Shielding charac 3,297,000 l/1967 Jorgensen ..1 18/504 teristics of the paint Shieki 3,565,038 2/1971 Barriger ..118/504 695,965 3/1902 Taylor et a1. 1 18/504 11 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENTED I97? 3 693 589 sumeurz PAINT SHIELDS, PARTICULARLY FOR SI-IIELDING CARPETS This invention relates to paint shields, and more particularly to a paint shield for shielding carpets and the like from paints when painting adjacent surfaces.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a paint shield for shielding carpets when painting adjacent surfaces (generally walls) which provides improved performance in that the paint shield can be used for relatively long periods of time without requiring wiping thereof.

A-further object of the present invention is to provide such a paint shield which is very inexpensive to manufacture and which is suitable for use in virtually all applications involving the shielding of carpet from paint.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a paint shield which is also suitable for use as a standard type paint shield for shielding a surface when painting an adjacent surface.

While the specification and claims in the present disclosure are specifically directed to shielding of paint, it should be clear that the invention is also suitable for use to shield carpets from cleaning solutions and other liquids when treating adjacent surfaces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a paint shield comprises a first portion having a handle thereon for manipulating the paint shield, a second portion extending from the first portion at an angle of 90 or more for engaging the carpet, the free lengthwise edge of the second portion having spaced cut-outs, serrations or the like, formed therein.

By virtue of the serrations or the like formed in the free lengthwise edge of the second portion of the paint shield, paint deposited on the second portion tends to be collected by the cut-outs or serrations (for example, by capillary action) to prevent the paint from dripping off the free edge of the second portion ,of the paint shield and onto the carpet during painting of the adjacent surface.

According to a further feature of the invention, the tips of the cutouts, serrations or the like may be bent slightly outward to enhance the property of the paint shield whereby paint is prevented from dripping onto the carpet being shielded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 4 is a front view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates a modification of the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4; and

FIG. 6 illustrates another modification of the embodiment of FIGS. 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1-4, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the present invention which includes a first substantially flat elongated portion 1 and a second substantially flat elongated portion 2 extending therefrom. Preferably, the portions 1 and 2 are integrally formed from a single sheet of plastic material, thin metal material, or the like, which is bent to form portions 1 and 2 with the desired angle 0 therebetween. The angle 0 between flat portions 1 and 2 should be greater than to enable portion 2 to be inserted between the carpet pile and an adjacent wall as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. However, experiments have shown that an angle of approximately between portions 1 and 2 is convenient and easy to use and provides good results with respect to the paint shielding effect. Preferably, the width w (see FIG. 4) of portion 2 is approximately lr inches. This enables the device of the present invention to be useful even with relatively highpile carpets. Other dimensions may be used, depending upon the application.

Extending from portion 1 is a handle 3 which may be either integrally formed with portion 1 or which may be secured thereto by appropriate adhesives, screws or the like. The edges 4 and 5 of flat portion 1 are preferably bevelled and additionally provide a relatively sharp shielding edge so that the edges 4 and 5 of the paint shield of the present invention can also be used as a conventional paint shield to shield surfaces from paint in the conventional manner. At least one end 7 of the flat portion 2 is preferably angled with'respect to the vertical. This angle is shown as B in FIG. 3 and is preferably approximately 45. Other angles may also be used as will become apparent from the following. The function of angle B is twofold. First, it facilitates use of the bevelled edge 5 of flat portion 1 as a conventional paint shield, and second, it enables the paint'shield of the present invention to be more easily slid along the carpet during use to shield the carpet. If desired, the other end 8 of portion 2 can also be angled in a similar manner to edge 7 in order to facilitate moving the paint shield along the carpet in the other direction during use. The angles of ends 7 and 8 may be the same or different. The free lengthwise edge of portion 2 is formed preferably with serrations 9. For general use, the serrations 9 are preferably formed with approximately 10 serrations per inch of running length of portion 2 and are approximately one-sixteenth inch deep. Other suitable dimensions may be used. The function of the serrations is to prevent paint on member 2 from contacting the carpet being shielded. It has been found that the provisions of serrations 9 provide the surprising result of enhancing the paint retaining characteristics of the free lengthwise edge of the portion 2 of the paint shield. Paint is retained in the serrations 9 by, for example, capillary action and/or surface tension, and greatly enhances the performance characteristics of the paint shield of the present invention. Using only a straight, non-serrated edge 9 (not shown), it is necessary to wipe the paint shielding surface of portion 2 at frequent intervals in order to prevent paint from flowing down surface 2, dripping off a straight edge 9 and contacting the carpet being shielded. The provision of serrations 9 greatly improves the perfonnance of the present invention in that the shield can be used for much longer periods of time without requiring wiping, and that better shielding characteristics are exhibited.

As a modification of the paint shield described above, the tip portions 9a of serrations 9 can be bent slightly outward as shown in FIG. 5. This configuration should enhance the paint retaining characteristics of the paint shield of the present invention since more paint is retained by the serrated edge 9 and hence, it is possible to use the shield for still longer lengths of time without requiring wiping of the shielding surface of portion 2.

While serrations 9 have been shown in FIGS. l-3 of the drawings, it should be clear that many other cut-out edge formations can be used to provide the same or similar results within the spirit of this invention. For example, the serrations 9 may be substituted for by an edge having semicircular cut-outs, or the like, as shown for example in FIG. 6. This type of arrangement will provide similar results as the serrated edge 9 shown in FIGS. 14. Also, the flat tip portions (lands) 10a of the edge configuration of FIG. 6 can also be bent slightly outward as are the edge portions 9a FIG. 5. This will enhance the performance of the paint shield as discussed above with respect to FIG. 5.

Other edge configurations which provide suitable indentations or cut-outs for retaining paint by, for example, capillary action, can be used in place of the serrated edges 9 and the semicircular cut-out edge 10 shown in FIGS. 1-4 and FIG. 6, respectively. The illustrated configurations were shown for convenience and not to limit the present inventive concept set forth in the appended claims. The portions 1 and 2 need not be flat. They may be provided with a slight curvature, as desired. The length of the paint shield may be varied, generally in accordance with the application thereof and economical considerations. A configuration approximately l inches long, with a 1% inch wide portion 2 and a inch wide portion 1 has been found to be satisfactory in practice.

How the carpet paint shield of the present invention is used in practice should be apparent from FIG. 1 and the descriptions hereinabove.

The paint shield may also include a semicircular cutout 11 on an edge thereof which may be used for shielding surfaces, either hard surfaces or carpet surfaces, when painting pipes or the like. How this feature is implemented should be apparent.

The cut-out 11 is particularly advantageous for shielding the edges of the lip of the tread of carpeted stairs when painting adjacent surfaces, such as the vertical surfaces adjacent the stairs. For this purpose, the edges of the cut-out 11 are preferably bevelled (as is edge 4, for example) to provide better shielding results.

Further, the cut-out 11 is useful for removing excess paint from rollers and is an aid when cleaning rollers after completion of a job.

While the invention has been described herein in terms of specific embodiments, it should be clear that various alterations could be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the inventive concepts set forth in the accompanying claims.

material having a handle means (3) thereon for manipulating the paint shield;

a second portion (2) of sheet-like material integral with said first portion extending downwardly with respect to the first portion at an obtuse angle to form a hollow between said portions for overlapping at least a portion of a carpet adjacent a given surface within the hollow, the free length wise edge of the second portion having a serrated pattern (9, 10) forming closely spaced, adjacently located points to provide for essentially point contact between the free lengthwise edge of the paint shield and the given surface, and to retain paint or the like at the top surface of the paint shield and prevent the paint from dripping off the free edge of the second portion and towards the carpet.

2. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein the tips or .outermost extending portions (9a, 10a) of said free lengthwise edge of said second portion (2) are curved outward to enhance the paint retaining characteristics of the paint shield.

3. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said serrations are formed with approximately 10 serrations per inch of running length of said lengthwise edge portion.

4. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said serrations are each approximately one-sixteenth inches deep.

5. A paint shield according to claim 1 wherein said cut-out pattern comprises a plurality of spaced semicircular cut-outs (l0).

6. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said angle(0) is approximately 7. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said second portion (2) has at least one end (7) angled in (B) with respect to the perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of said shield.

8. A paint shield according to claim 7, wherein said one end (7 of said second portion (2) is angled in at approximately 45.

9. A paint shield according to claim 8, wherein a free edge (5) of said first portion (1) adjacent said angled in end 7 of said second portion is beveled.

10. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said first portion has at least one beveled free edge (4, 5) to act as a paint shield between adjacent surfaces.

11. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein an edge of said first portion (1) has a cut-out (11) for shielding a surface when painting a pipe or the like. 

1. A paint shield for carpets or the like comprising a first substantially planar portion (1) of sheet-like material having a handle means (3) thereon for manipulating the paint shield; a second portion (2) of sheet-like material integral with said first portion extending downwardly with respect to the first portion at an obtuse angle to form a hollow between said portions for overlapping at least a portion of a carpet adjacent a given surface within the hollow, the free length wise edge of the second portion having a serrated pattern (9, 10) forming closely spaced, adjacently located points to provide for essentially point contact between the free lengthwise edge of the paint shield and the given surface, and to retain paint or the like at the top surface of the paint shield and prevent the paint from dripping off the free edge of the second portion and towards the carpet.
 2. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein the tips or outermost extending portions (9a, 10a) of said free lengthwise edge of said second portion (2) are curved outward to enhance the paint retaining characteristics of the paint shield.
 3. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said serrations are formed with approximately 10 serrations per inch of running length of said lengthwise edge portion.
 4. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said serrations are each approximately one-sixteenth inches deep.
 5. A paint shield according to claim 1 wherein said cut-out pAttern comprises a plurality of spaced semicircular cut-outs (10).
 6. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said angle( theta ) is approximately 135*.
 7. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said second portion (2) has at least one end (7) angled in ( Beta ) with respect to the perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of said shield.
 8. A paint shield according to claim 7, wherein said one end (7) of said second portion (2) is angled in at approximately 45*.
 9. A paint shield according to claim 8, wherein a free edge (5) of said first portion (1) adjacent said angled in end (7) of said second portion is beveled.
 10. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein said first portion has at least one beveled free edge (4, 5) to act as a paint shield between adjacent surfaces.
 11. A paint shield according to claim 1, wherein an edge of said first portion (1) has a cut-out (11) for shielding a surface when painting a pipe or the like. 